Poll: Likud stable at 30, Yesh Atid falls to 19

Newly formed party led by Orly Levy nets 5 seats, as Labor falls from 24 to just 13 mandates.

David Rosenberg, 29/03/18 22:01

Binyamin Netanyahu and Yair Lapid

Flash 90

Despite allegations of corruption and a police recommendation to indict him, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would easily win reelection if new elections were held today, a new poll shows.

Last month, police recommended that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit file charges against Netanyahu in both the Case 1000 and Case 2000 investigations into allegations of bribery.

That has done little to stem the Likud’s rise in the polls, however.

A new survey conducted by the Smith Research polling firm and publicized by Channel 20 on Thursday shows the Likud winning 30 seats if new elections were held today, with a double digit lead over the next largest party, Yesh Atid.

The previous Smith poll, conducted in February, gave the Likud 28 seats, two mandates less than the party won in 2015, but one more than a prior Smith projected the Likud winning.

Former Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, however, fell to just 19 seats – 8 more than the party won in 2015 but 3 less than the previous Smith poll projected and well below the average of recent polls which showed Yesh Atid in the mid-20s.

The Zionist Union party, comprised of Labor and the Hatnua faction, plummeted to just 13 seats in the poll, compared to 24 the party won in 2015.

The predominantly Arab Joint List party slipped by one mandate from the 13 it won in 2015 to 12 seats, while the Jewish Home party gained two seats, rising from 8 to 10.

Among the haredi parties, Shas fell from seven seats to five, while United Torah Judaism gained one mandate, rising to seven.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party is projected to lose three seats, falling to seven mandates, while the far-left Meretz party would also win seven seats, a gain of two mandates.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party and a new list led by breakaway ex-Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levy would each net five seats.